Protest planned to coincide with Spray Lakes Open House

Media advisory

Concerned citizens will hold a rally outside Spray Lake Sawmills' Open House in Blairmore on Thursday, May 10, starting at 3:00 pm to protest against clear-cut logging in the Castle Special Place.

The Open House is being held in the Blairmore Legion Hall, 2132 – 129th Street.

Despite serious and ongoing public opposition, Cochrane-based Spray Lake Sawmills started logging in the Castle Special Place in February. This is the first of three years that logging is scheduled to take place in the Castle area west of Beaver Mines, Alberta. Groups and many regional residents have been asking for the logging to be stopped and, instead, for a Wildland Park to be created to provide better protection for the Castle.


A survey conducted in early 2011 by Praxis showed that 79% of local residents oppose the logging. In March 2012, the Southwest Alberta Sustainable Community Initiative (SASCI) released a Community Values Assessment that had been requested by the MD of Pincher Creek Council. From a telephone survey of area residents, it showed that "...the strongest opposition among residents was for increasing opportunities for motorized recreation (OHVs, dirt bikes, etc.), allowing clear cutting of the Castle Special Management Area, and subdividing land currently used for agriculture." [Emphasis mine.]

In January, local residents and business owners maintained a protest camp in temperatures as low as –35° C to raise awareness of logging in the Castle. Several members of that group were arrested and/or banned from accessing public land in the province. Proceedings have since been dropped.

On April 18, 2012, a group of local citizens and the Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition filed documents with the Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary to initiate a Judicial Review of the decision to allow logging in the Castle. A court date has not yet been set.

The rally will remind Spray Lake Sawmills and the Department of Sustainable Resource Development that the public remains firmly opposed to logging in the Castle Special Place.